Quick commerce startup arive announces €6 million in seed funding

arive, a new player in the booming rapid delivery space, has raised €6 million in seed funding from Balderton Capital, 468 Capital and La Famiglia VC.

The German startup delivers high end consumer products within 30 minutes.

Shoppers submit an order on an app, which is then picked by arive staff in city warehouses, before being delivered by a bike only fleet.

Currently available in Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg, the service is set to expand internationally before the end of the year.

Maximilian Reeker, Co-founder, arive, says: “While the space for hyper fast grocery delivery is increasingly crowded, we found the brands we love are still stuck in a three day delivery scheme.”

“For today’s time poor consumers, this is too long. We’re excited to transform consumer shopping habits in cities and look forward to working closely with our experienced investors to achieve this.”

Bardo Droege, investor at 468 Capital, comments: “Our cities are dynamic, fast moving places and people living there want the tools and services that reflect their lifestyles so it’s no wonder the 15 minute groceries category has taken off so quickly.”

“But facilitating on-demand delivery of high end consumer items poses a different set of challenges. We’re confident the arive team will take this on - already we’ve been deeply impressed with the tenacity and grit they’ve shown.”

“As well, their understanding of consumer buying behaviour means they are well placed to tap into the trends that will come to dominate the e-commerce industry in the post-Covid world.”

“It breaks my heart”

Albinder Dhindsa, the founder of Indian rapid delivery startup Grofers, recently responded to “hate” being directed at his company.

Grofers has been facing a social media backlash, with people claiming that its delivery partners are being exploited.

“I don't want my groceries delivered in 10 or 20 minutes. I would rather that the delivery person takes his time to safely deliver,” said Pooja Prasanna, Deputy Editor at The News Minute.

“Same for my food. Raise your voice. Tell companies like Grofers, Big Basket, Swiggy and Zomato. There is no market for abusing their delivery persons.”

“Grofers delivered groceries within 13 minutes and the co-founder responds back that it’s three minutes too long,” commented entrepreneur Sanket Dangi.

“For god's sake, these are groceries - not life saving medicines. Please don't put unnecessary pressure on the delivery boys just for marketing gimmicks!”

In a statement on Twitter, Dhindsa said that the criticism “breaks my heart…Instead of celebrating innovations (and startup success) coming from India, some of us stay cynical/envious of people who are trying to break the status quo.”

"We need more people who dare, and less of those who pull them down," he added.

He stated that Grofers' partner stores are located within 2 km of its customers and that it currently has 60+ stores in Delhi and 30+ stores in Gurugram. 

The venture’s stores are so densely located that it can deliver 90% of orders within 15 minutes even if the riders drive under 10 km per hour.

"Our in store planning and tech is now so good that we pack most orders under 2.5 minutes. Our riders are not (dis) incentivised to deliver orders fast.”

“We've had zero reported rider accidents in the last two months since we launched 10 minute grocery delivery," he commented.

Zomato to the rescue

Dhindsa also received support on social media, including from a senior executive at Zomato.

"Just because something gets done fast, doesn't mean it is done at subpar quality - or is done by compromising on security. Fast delivery = riskier driving, assumes a zero sum game.”

“There are ways to make things faster and safer. One just needs to get out of zero sum game mindset," tweeted Pradyot Ghate, Zomato VP Product & Payments.

Grofers recently announced a $100 million round involving Zomato and became a unicorn in the process, with a valuation of just over $1 billion.